Sunday 8 March 2015 was International Women’s Day. “A global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future”. Thank you, ladies! Mothers, sisters, teachers, role models: the hard work you put in has helped us get where we are today. Including the boys; they love you too. We are equal in appreciation and hope one day we’ll be equal in recognition too. It takes all types to build a world, after all.
Although Progressio runs fantastic gender empowerment projects around our world, the one we are working on is not specifically a women’s issue. Addiction is a human issue, caused by human problems, regardless of gender. CEREPA (Centro de Rehabilitación del Paciente Adicto) treats addiction in women and men equally. We have worked hard to prevent drug and alcohol abuse in girls and boys alike. So, this brief - to write a blog for International Women’s Day (#IDW2015) relevant to our project – was more difficult than I imagined, despite being a STRIDENT FEMINIST and avid follower of many equality campaigners on Twitter. Believe me, I spent most of our day off enjoying the celebrations on social media, and couldn’t think of a good way to bring them into our experiences.
Girls and boys taking part in a ‘games’ activity at our fair in Culmi
I could have started by addressing the issues we face in our respective home countries. Team Catacamas is 14 volunteers in total; nine of whom are female. Gender-related crime is therefore a danger faced by the majority, and - assuming the boys have female loved ones – that affects us all. In England, 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence during their lifetime. For Holly, Ellie, Claudia and I, living in England, that is a very real statistic. In Honduras, one woman was killed every 13.8 hours in 2013; with the 20-24 year age range being the most highly affected. A very real issue for ICS volunteers, all aged under 25.
But I decided violence against women was maybe a bit heavy, and only vaguely related to the project through us volunteers.
I turned towards the inspirational women we’ve been lucky enough to work with during our project. Progressio and Predisan being the amazing organisations that they are, there are so many to choose from! Dr Amanda Madrid, Martha Rivera, Laura Harms, Enma Marcía, Glenda Rodriguez, Carmen Padilla – we salute you! You are inspirational women and all came up as ideas for this blog, but if I were to write about the ways you are shaping our world, this post would turn into a book.
So, finally, I’ve decided to write about the reason our project - and International Women’s Day - matters most. The next generation of women: las niñas.
We women and men are shaping the world they live in, are growing in, will shape for generations to come. During the eleven prevention fairs we have run this cycle, we have worked with over 1000 children – half of them girls. Girls we have learnt from; who have hopefully enjoyed our workshops as much as we have. Looking at their bright-eyed faces, we don’t want them to come to any harm. It’s heart-breaking to discover gender-related crime figures in Honduras and realise that these are the girls vulnerable to those terrifying statistics. It’s amazing to think that with a little encouragement they could be the next inspirational ladies shaping our world. We need to stand together, men and women, to make sure the playing field is safe and even enough for these girls to achieve their dreams. Girls here, at home, and around the world. You can do it. #MakeItHappen!
